A pay line is a line on a slot machine screen or viewing area used to determine a winner. If certain pre-defined reel symbols (e.g., three “BARS” or three “7's”) stop in the positions crossed by the pay line, the player wins a factor of the amount bet according to a pay table.
Over time, the number of pay lines available to a player for play of a particular game has grown, and now multiple pay lines are a key feature in the rise of player interest in video slots. In FIG. 2, a representative example of a 5-reel video slot machine having 10 pay lines is illustrated. This example depicts the way in which pay lines on a multiple pay line slot machine sometimes zig and zag across the different reel positions displayed on the screen. Traditionally, slot machines have pay lines that read left-to-right (L-R) so that winning combinations must appear on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. reels/strips in a predetermined order to qualify. (In other words, an otherwise winning combination appearing on the 3rd, 4th and 5th reels/strips will not qualify as a win.)
Some prior art examples can be found on games that either have pay lines running from the far right reel/strip leftward (i.e., Right-to-Left), or else that allow the starting position of the pay lines to be shifted to the 2nd, 3rd, etc. reels/strips.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,399,226 to Mishra ('226) describes a slots game in which pay lines can run either left-to-right or right-to-left. (See Column 9, line 44-Column 10, line 12.) Mishra '226 fails to disclose arranging symbol positions and relative weights identically on the 1st and last reels (this is a three-reel game) so that odds parity occurs in either direction of the pay line.
U.S. Publication No. 2007/0191087 to Thomas et al. ('087) teaches the concept of shifting the starting reel position for purposes of pay line determination. Thomas et al. '087 does not disclose the concept of pay lines running in the direction right-to-left, nor of establishing symbol positions and relative weights identically on the 1st and 5th reels and also on the 2nd and 4th reels.
U.S. Publication No. 2008/0051180 to Okada ('180) teaches a slots game that allows, under certain circumstances, the pay line symbols to be rearranged in the event a winning combination is not achieved in the first instance in the typical left-to-right direction. (See Abstract and Paragraph [0011].) Okada '180 does not disclose matching the symbol positions and relative weights on the 1st and 5th reels (or 1st and last) and requiring the player to pre-select either left-to-right, right-to-left, or both directions of pay line flow.
U.S. Publication No. 2009/0048010 to Kroeckel et al. ('010) briefly mentions (in Paragraph [0195]) that winning combinations could pay right-to-left or left-to-right. However, Kroeckel et al. '010 does not establish the symbol positions and relative weights identically on the 1st and last reels and also on the 2nd and 4th reels so that there is no change in game odds if the player chooses to play a pay line that runs right-to-left instead of left-to-right.
Game odds and payout are strictly monitored by the local gaming commission. Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved game apparatus and method that allows the player to choose whether to play a pay line that runs right-to-left instead of left-to-right without changing the odds, or alternatively of allowing the player to choose to play pay lines that run in both directions with a mere doubling of the odds.